The Traderszone Network

Greece’s government is racing to finalize a plan of reforms for its third bailout, hoping this time the proposal will meet with approval from its European partners and stave off a potentially catastrophic …

EU antitrust regulators accused MasterCard on Thursday of over-charging non-European cardholders to process their purchases in Europe, the second time the EU has taken on the world’s No. 2 credit and debit card network. The latest move by the European Commission came after a two-year long investigation and is part of its efforts to trim such fees and boost cross-border trade. MasterCard capped its cross-border interchange fees, which are levied on retailers’ credit and debit card transactions, in 2009, after the EU competition enforcer said the high level of charges breached antitrust rules.

A significant drop in the long-run interest-rate level that marks a sweet spot for a healthy U.S. economy is making it harder for the Federal Reserve to do its job, a top policymaker said on Thursday. Fiscal authorities can ease this problem by issuing more debt, Minneapolis Fed President Narayana Kocherlakota said in remarks prepared for delivery in Frankfurt.

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Honda Motor Co’s chief executive said the Japanese automaker has seen a dip in China sales compared to last year amid jitters about the country’s economy and financial markets, but still expects growth over the full fiscal year. “Recently stocks in Shanghai have basically plummeted…(Honda’s) sales also seem to be declining slightly,” newly appointed CEO Takahiro Hachigo told reporters on Thursday. “I think this year’s car sales (in China) will top last year’s,” said Hachigo, adding the Chinese auto market, the world’s biggest, still has potential to grow much more.

* China’s securities regulator, in its most drastic step yet to arrest a selloff on Chinese stock markets, banned shareholders with large stakes in listed firms from selling for the next six months. * About 30 percent has been knocked off the value of Chinese shares since mid-June, and for some global investors the fear that China’s market turmoil will destabilize the global financial system is now a bigger risk than the crisis in Greece. * Fed officials need to see more signs of a strengthening U.S.

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Anyone left squirming by the NYSE outage is either a trader or has the wrong portfolio, writes Chuck Jaffe.
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Snack and beverage giant now expects earnings to grow 8% this year.
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